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Batman: the Duel of Darkness
'Batman: the Duel of Darkness is a 2020 American comic-book action superhero movie directed by Bryan Singer, produced by Steven Spielberg and starring Julian McMahon, Jason Isaacs, Patrick Stewart and Rosamund Pike and Scarlett Johansson among others. It tells the story of Bruce Wayne, who has a dual identity as the Batman, and his eventual meeting with the League of Assassins and the apparently immortal Ra's al Ghul. It was released three years after the release of ''Batman: the King of Crooks. The role of writing the film was afforded to Christopher Nolan, who had also done the same for the prequels. The film, unlike the two predecessors to it, went through no script changes, before being released in 2017 after a series of re-casting and setting developments. Upon release, Batman: the Duel of Darkness ''immediately received widespread critical acclaim, with praise for its tone, special effects, story, action and acting performances, particularly McMahon, Isaacs and Johansson. It was praised for its shorter run time in comparison to the other two films, but criticized again for its bloody and brutal violence. It received a Box-Office total of $2, 250, 500, 000, 000 which was exponentially more than expected. It was nominated for, and gifted with, Best Villain (Isaacs), Best Visual Effects, Best Lead Actor in an Action Movie (McMahon), Best Director (Singer), Best Supporting Actress (Johansson) and Best Sequel. Plot In the mountains of Tibet, an organization of martial artists named the League of Assassins is gathered in a circle around a summit, where a hooded and cloaked man named Ra's al Ghul is waiting. A shirtless twenty-year-old Bruce Wayne is escorted up the mountain, where his final challenge is to last thirty seconds in combat, unarmed, against Ra's al Ghul, who is armed with a ceremonial ''katana. The two men face one another, being observed by a mysterious cloaked woman named Lady Shiva. Ra's comes dangerously close to killing Bruce, but he survives thirty seconds and Ra's extends a hand of admiration, which Bruce breathlessly shakes. Thirty years later, Bruce Wayne dons the Batsuit and manages to catch Dr. Crane while he tries to flee Gotham City via airplane. After boarding the plane and pursuing Crane through the plane, Batman captured Crane and left him, tied and gagged, by Gotham City Police Station. Bruce returns to Wayne Manor, where he is approached by Alfred, who explains that Crane's arrest has led to the prevention of two-hundred shipments of Fear Gas in and out of Gotham. He reveals that the smuggling of Fear Gas has led him to Tibet, and to the hideout of the League of Assassins. Bruce, visibly shocked by this revelation, denies this firmly. Alfred attempts to convince him otherwise, but Bruce tensely insists that the League of Assassins was dissolved long ago. Bruce meets with Vicki Vale, and the two of them visit a restaurant near Gotham Harbour, where they date happily. The date suddenly takes an unexpected turn when Vicki's voice changes. She reveals herself to be Lady Shiva, which provokes Bruce into nearly stabbing her with a knife. She calmly talks him into dropping the knife, and claims that she speaks for Ra's al Ghul. Bruce insists that Ra's is dead, but she insists that he isn't. Ra's apparently wants to meet with Bruce, which Shiva accepts. Before she leaves, Bruce places a tracking solution in her wine so that he can track her movements. He tracks her from the Batcave, but suddenly the tracker deactivates, meaning that he is right back where he started - Shiva had held the wine in her mouth the whole journey to a trailer in Gotham Harbour, before spitting the wine out into the sea. She then disappears into the shadows. Bruce becomes confused at this, but this also confirms that it is League activity - stealth and anti-surveillance strategies are the teachings of the League of Shadows. Bruce runs an analysis, soon learning that Slade Wilson was a student of the League. He travels, as Batman, to Blackgate Prison, where he interrogates Slade. Slade confirms that Ra's is alive, having got him in contact with the Joker, leading to the events that ended in Dick Grayson's death. Slade mocks Batman for his ignorance, and tells him that, if Ra's wants to meet again with him, then it will be dangerous beyond measure for Batman and everyone close to him. Bruce is suddenly ambushed by ninjas in black robes. He overpowers them, battling them through Blackgate Prison, until he is in the interrogation room, where Lady Shiva - out of her disguise - appears out of thin air. Batman tries to attack her, but she suddenly dissolves into smoke, only to reappear on the opposite side of the room. She explains that she wasn't there to fight him - but she remarked that, if she were, he would be dead before they met at the restaurant - and that Ra's genuinely wanted to meet with him. Batman agrees, on the condition that once he meets with Ra's, they will never menace him again. Concurring with this, Shiva tells him that, if he wants that to happen, he has to first break Dr. Crane out of Gotham City Police Department. She then disappears on the spot. Concerned, Bruce returns to Wayne Manor, where he tells Alfred the whole story of what happened at Blackgate. He admits that he has no wise solution to this situation. Alone in bed, Bruce recollects what happened thirty years ago. Through flashbacks, it is revealed that Bruce was personally selected by Ra's al Ghul as a student of the League of Assassins. He went through twice the amount of training that normal League initiates, under the personal observation of Ra's and Shiva. He beat all of the initiates' records in training, and was offered the position as Ra's' second-in-command. Bruce refused, which was punishable by death. Bruce overwhelmed the guards, and before Ra's could fight him, Bruce eludes him, sneaks on him from behind and stabs him in the back with his own sword, killing him. The League turns on him with flaming arrows, but he dodges them and they accidentally set fire to the building. As a result, the roof tiles of the building to fall on Ra's, crushing him. Bruce then escaped, as the League's headquarters crumbled into ruins. There, he sees Lady Shiva standing on the mountaintop, looking at the ruins, before looking calmly at him. Then a swirl of snow is blown briefly between Shiva and Bruce, and when it clears the woman has disappeared, as if she wasn't even there. Bruce agrees to meet with Ra's, and Shiva agrees. Alfred objects, but is unable to dissuade Bruce. Bruce raids the GCPD, eluding Commissioner Gordon and breaking Crane out of his cell. After rescuing Crane and bringing him to Shiva. Bruce is told anonymously to appear back at Gotham Harbour, where Shiva escorts him via boat to an island between Gotham and the mainland, which is unmarked on every map in the world. There, whilst Crane is escorted elsewhere on the island, they climb the mountain on the island, where they come to a house where Ra's al Ghul greets Bruce. Ra's appears completely healthy, unmarked by Bruce killing him and doesn't appear to have aged a single day. Ra's, at first, greets his old student, apparently forgetting that Bruce had killed him. Ra's appears to be extremely proud of Bruce utilising his training to help Gotham. At this point, Ra's suddenly turns disdainful and cold, thinking that it is futile to try and save such a crime-ridden infestation as Gotham. He chastises Bruce for using his skills to such futility. Upon questioning from Bruce, Ra's reveals that, immediately after the building collapsed, he was brought into the heart of the mountain they trained on, where they found a spring they named the Lazarus Pits: whenever Ra's bathed in these springs, any injury or illness he had suffered - even if he were on his very last heartbeat - would be revoked, and he would be rendered substantially younger and fitter. It is revealed that Ra's has been using the pits for centuries to keep himself alive, since the days of William the Conqueror. He has decided that Gotham is beyond saving, and devised a plan to destroy it from the inside. He does not reveal this plan, and instead plans to kill Bruce where he stands. On his orders, Shiva attacks Bruce and, despite Bruce's ultimate efforts, Shiva effortlessly and calmly defeats him, and prepares to kill him with a blow to the neck, but Bruce twists out of her grip, throwing her back and diving out of the trailer, swimming to shore. Ra's doesn't appear to be dissuaded by this failure, and claims that the plan will continue nonetheless. He meets Crane, and asks him if he can produce a more advanced solution of Fear Gas. Crane agrees, and Ra's orders his men to infect Gotham's water supply with the Fear Gas compound. Bruce discovers the League's activity, and he leads the Gotham Police against them. The League, through their highly advanced stealth training, overpowers the police. Vicki Vale, on Bruce's anonymous orders, is placed in hiding with Alfred. Ra's and Crane observe the operation from the balcony of a nearby hotel, and Crane sadistically contemplates the fear that will spread as a result of his creation - he cannot wait to see it. Ra's answers by saying that he has run out of use for the mad doctor. He then walks out, but not before nodding at Shiva as a signal. Shiva, silently understanding the order, attacks Crane, who sprays her with a personal solution of the Fear Gas. Shiva inhales the gas, but is unaffected, apparently incapable of fear. She then attacks him bare-handed and, after a frenzied struggle, she breaks Crane's neck, before disappearing out of sight again. Batman tries to prevent the pollution, but is too late. In his attempts to quell the pollution, Ra's orders for his men to push him into the sewer, where he inhales the Fear Gas contained. Emerging, Bruce is violently tormented by terrifying hallucinations. The first is his parents, accusing him of being unable to save them, calling him weak. The next involve Dick Grayson and Jason Todd trying to attack him from behind, blaming him for what happened to them. As Batman tries to fight back, with every blow he lands these people dissolve into swarms of vampire bats, frightening Batman into shock. Gordon finds him, stunned, and awakens him. The League's assassins attack them, and Batman awakens, subduing the assassins in an instant, before going after Ra's. Meanwhile, nearly a third of Gotham's population has been infected by the pollution, and has been driven insane with hysterical fear. Gordon and his men struggle to contain the riots that ensue, but ends up battling the League in the process. Batman intervenes, helping to defeat the League's assassins. Via the Batcave, Batman devises an antidote to the Fear Gas and inserts it into the water supply of Gotham, curing the entire population of Gotham from the Fear Gas. Ra's furiously walks down to intervene, but is distracted when Shiva reveals that they have found another Lazarus Pit directly beneath Wayne Manor. Ra's decides to destroy it, but in the process draws Batman to Wayne Manor. There, the two men engage in a final duel in which they are evenly matched. Ra's gains the upper hand in their fight, taunting him that he was never truly an heir that Ra's believed him to be. Batman defeats Ra's by driving his own sword into his chest, but Ra's revives himself by falling deliberately into the Lazarus Pit. However, Batman planned this. He reveals that he has placed explosives on the ceiling, and remotely controls the Batpod to fire on these explosives, igniting them. This causes chunks of the cave to fall on the Pit, burying the mystical springs, crushing the Batpod and killing Ra's. Batman escapes the resulting tremors that block that entire section of the cave, cutting off all access to the Lazarus Pits. There, he collapses against the gravestone of his parents in the Wayne Cemetery. He is found by Shiva, who stands stoically over him and remarks that he finally killed Ra's. Bruce believes that she is there to kill him and tries to get up, failing. Shiva calmly says that she isn't there to kill him, but to congratulate him, claiming that he has passed the test. She says that the two of them will never meet again, and she has come to accept that he wishes to continue protecting Gotham. Then, she disappears into thin air on the spot, wishing him good luck. Vicki Vale, two days later, awaits Bruce in the same restaurant where Bruce met Shiva. Bruce meets her, and the two of them eat together. There, Bruce produces a wedding ring and proposes to Vicki. Vicki, her voice cracking, says that she cannot marry him while he is Batman. He offers to stop becoming Batman if she will marry him, but she rejects this offer, knowing that he can never do that - because Batman was a reason for him to carry on living, and because Gotham would always need its Caped Crusader. She embraces him tearfully, before leaving. That night, Bruce looks himself in the mirror, recollecting what Vicki said, and then what both Ra's and Shiva said about Gotham being unsaveable. He decides that he doesn't care what they believe, and enters the Batcave. Alfred tells him that, with the Batpod's destruction, he has designed a brand new vehicle for use. He switches on the Batcave's lights, revealing the Batmobile poised on its platform. Bruce smiles, dons the Batsuit and enters the Batmobile, driving out of the cave and into the moonlit streets of Gotham City. In an end-credits scene, a League assassin sneaks into a mortuary where a veiled body is lying. He produces a phial containing water from the Lazarus Pits. The body is wired to a machine which shows an incredibly faint heartbeat. The assassin injects the water into the man's neck, but at first nothing happens at all. Then the corpse's shaking hand takes the syringe and plunges it into the throat of the assassin, killing him. The corpse's other hand weakly reaches up to the blanket covering its face and removes it, revealing the laughing face of the Joker, as the colour returns to his eyes and the screen blackens. Cast * Julian McMahon as Bruce Wayne/Batman. McMahon felt that it was extremely interesting that the character had to be made increasingly darker with every film that came along in the series in order to adhere properly to the character and the events of the prequel. ** Lion Facioli as young Bruce Wayne * Jason Isaacs as Ra's al Ghul. Ra's al Ghul is the mysterious and malevolent chieftain of the League of Assassins, and the man who trained Bruce Wayne in martial arts. He is a man who has been rendered practically immortal because he bathes in the Lazarus Pits once every fifty years, enabling him to alter the equilibrium of human history since he influenced the murder of Thomas Beckett. Jason Isaacs commented that he had taken inspiration from Liam Neeson's portrayal of the character, as well as Ian McDarmid's portrayal of Darth Sidious. * Patrick Stewart as Alfred Pennyworth. Alfred is Bruce Wayne's loyal and wise butler and mentor figure since childhood. * Rosamund Pike as Vicki Vale, Bruce Wayne's childhood crush and girlfriend, who is becoming increasingly worried about Bruce's behaviour since Jason Todd's downfall. * Scarlett Johansson as Lady Shiva. Lady Shiva is the intensely calm and highly idealistic sensei and an ally of Ra's al Ghul. Shiva is convinced that Gotham cannot survive without the necessary bloodshed that will shape it into a properly-working environment. Johansson found that playing the role of Shive was extremely exciting, especially since it was one of the few times that the camera wasn't centred on her breasts or legs as an attraction for younger male audiences. She also commented that simply quoting the character was an absolutely riveting experience. * Mark Strong as Dr. Crane, the sadistic and immoral doctor who is infamous for his development of the Fear Gas, a chemical compound that forces the user to experience their very worst fears. * Kiefer Sutherland as James Gordon, the idealistic and highly moral Gotham police commissioner. * Asa Butterfield as Dick Grayson, who appears as a hallucination for Bruce Wayne * Eddie Redmayne as Jason Todd, who appears as a hallucination * Neil Diamond as Thomas Wayne, who appears as a hallucination * Emilia Clarke as Martha Wayne, who appears as a hallucination * Tom Hiddleston as the Joker Production Reception Box Office The film, upon release, received a Box-Office total of $250, 500, 000, 000, which was exponentially more than expected. It exceeded all expectations, and its original cost of $150,000,000 in order to accomplish the details of the film, including the extremely expensive special effects and stunt precautions. Critical Reception Batman: the Duel of Darkness received overwhelmingly positive critical acclaim from critics and audiences, and fans of the Batman comics, and gained a 97% approval rating. It was praised for its tone, special effects, story, action and acting performances, particularly McMahon, Isaacs and Johansson. It was particularly praised for its shorter run time in comparison to the other two films. The film's consensus commented that Batman: the Duel of Darkness brings back the intensely idealistic tone that would be associated with Ra's al Ghul and Shiva's insistent delusional nature, and Bruce Wayne's unshakably loyal dedication to the people of Gotham. The film was praised exponentially for its usage of Batman's idealistic and stubborn nature as a pivotal factor in the plot. The fact that he is challenged with other people's powerful opinions throughout the movie was considered the defining theme of the film. The action was enjoyed by audiences for being brief, but still extremely exciting and energetic in nature, especially the fight scenes involving Johansson. The story appeared to rely completely on the character of Bruce Wayne - it explored his fears, his opinion about the League's activities, his feelings for Vicki Vale and his capacity for cunning even in the face of extreme turmoil. The performances of McMahon, Isaacs and Johansson received widespread praise. They commented that Jason Isaacs in particular had substantially excelled himself in playing an enigmatic villain, especially one who has, at one point, been master of the hero. His sheer presence was described as almost as frightening as Tom Hiddleston as the Joker. However, the majority of praise went to the acting of Scarlett Johansson as Lady Shiva. Critics commented that Scarlett seriously rocks it as the mysterious woman who haunts every single scene she appears in. The deadly, deadpan dame of destruction brings an air of intensity that the film otherwise had hanging on the edge of a knife. Her character and performance was likened to that of Alice Kridge as the Borg Queen in Star Trek: First Contact. They praised the director for not focusing on her appearance with the camera, which was heavily complained about in Iron Man 2. However, they did comment that it was obvious her breasts had been digitally enhanced and subtly focused on whilst on camera, to which Johansson casually confirmed, claiming that it shouldn't have been in the movie because it threatened to derail the character. YouTube movie critic Chris Stuckmann remarked Casting Scarlett Johansson as a villain, and then focusing entirely on her boobs? Dick move, Singer. Dick move. McMahon's performance as Bruce Wayne again received great praise, claiming that he had brought a layer of optimism and maturity to the role which otherwise seemed to be out of place in such a movie. The film was, however, strongly criticized again for its bloody and brutal violence. The scenes where Shiva breaks Dr. Crane's neck, and the struggle that led up to it, was regarded as being disturbingly loud unnaturally brutal, and people briefly thought that it degraded the intended sophisticated nature of the character. Singer responded to this by explaining that it was supposed to show how a preternaturally relaxed and reserved character can, in the blink of an eye, burst into a violent and unstoppable predator. The nature of Ra's al Ghul's death was ''considered to be mercifully bloodless, so that it did not become similar to a Quentine Tarantino movie. However, the idea of somebody dropping into a pool that should have resurrected him, before being crushed and probably drowned was criticized as excessive. The film's portrayal of Bruce and Vicki's complex relationship was also widely praised, believed to be reminiscent of DiCaprio and Danes in ''Romeo + Juliet. Accolades The film received awards for Best Director (Singer), Groundbreaking SFX of the Year, Best Screenplay, Best Fight (Johansson and McMahon), Best Producer (Spielberg), Best Action Movie of the Year, Best Score, Most Breathtaking Cinematography and Best On-Screen Couple (McMahon and Pike). The actors were awarded as follows: Jason Isaacs received a Best Villain, Teen Choice for Favourite Movie Actor and Best Supporting Actor. McMahon was gifted with Best Lead Actor in an Action Movie, Best Anti-Hero and Best Hero. Johansson won awards for Best Supporting Actress, Most Badass Female Character in a Film, Outstanding Achievement as a Supporting Actress in an Action Movie and Sexiest Female Character - to which she blushed, admitting to be embarrassed about winning. Finally, the film won an award for Best Sequel, and the scene where Batman is affected by the Fear Gas won the Scariest Moment of the Year award. Sequel Six months after the release of the film, Singer publicly announced that there would be a sequel to be released in 2022, entitled Batman: the Mind of Madness. Category:Films Category:Warner Bros. films Category:Batman Movies Category:Reboot films